First Impressions
by mommai
Summary: Ren tries to confess to Kyoko, only things don't go the way he hopes, so he tries to convince her on a date! First Date Challenge Fic!
1. Chapter 1

"Kyoko, I love you."

Silence.

"No you don't."

Ren sighed. "Yes, Kyoko, I do."

"Nope," she replied, in a nonchalant manner. "It's just impossible, you could never ever ever love me. You're probably just still harboring some residual Heel sibling feelings. We'll just forget you ever said that."

Ren closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in frustration. He figured confessing to Kyoko wouldn't go as he hoped, but this...

"Ok, fine. You can forget I said that for the moment." Kyoko looked a little too relieved at that. "But I _am_ going to take you on a date and show you how much I really do _actually_ love you."

"Oh, Tsuruga-san, you don't need to-"

"KYOKO!" Ren interrupted, before she could hurt him even further with her denials. She jumped at the sudden force in his voice. Ren sighed again. "Look, just... I'm sorry for shouting at you," He tousled his hair in frustration and turned away, pacing the room for a second, then looked back at her. "But please, Kyoko, just go on this one date with me. If for no other reason, than as thanks for your _sempai_ (oh how he _hated_ that word!) helping you so much. Please," he begged.

Her resolve started to waver as he looked at her with his whole heart in his eyes. She meekly squeaked out an "...ok," and looked down at her feet with a red face.

Ren sighed again, but this time in relief. "Thank you, Mogami-san," he said, trying to go back to more familiar ground to help her cope with the situation. She looked up and almost fell overfrom his very open, loving, yet slightly wounded smile. "Are... you free tomorrow evening?"

"Y-yes..."

"Good, then I'll pick you up from the Love-Me office around 5." He grabbed her hands, causing her to look up and freeze once again at his expression. "I'm very much looking forward to it, Mogami-san." He took in a sharp breath, and then hurried out of the room, leaving a bewildered Kyoko in his wake.

~LOVE~

_Today's the day! _he told himself excitedly. Today, would FINALLY be the day that he would confess his feelings to Kyoko!

Hikaru Ishibashi marched bravely down the hallway at LME, with resolve in his heart. He was still nervous, of course, but he was going to do it! He was tired of just missing chances to be alone with Kyoko, and so he took chance into his own hands and shook it by the scruff of its neck! He had gotten Kyoko's schedule for this week out of her at their last filming, and knew she would be doing love-me work until 5.

He stopped when he got to the open doorway of her office, and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing! He stepped in and coughed an awkward, "Good evening, Kyoko-chan."

Kyoko paused from her organizing labors and looked up. "Oh! Hikaru-nii-san, what a nice surprise! What are you doing here?"

Hikaru tried not to wince at her manner of adressing him. He decided to press on anyway. "I stopped by to see you for a few minutes, since I don't get much of a chance to see you alone at work."

"Oh, well, you're welcome to stop by any time!" Kyoko said with a smile.

Hikaru blushed and tried again. "Well, I've been really wanting to tell you something for a while..."

"Go ahead," Kyoko encouraged innocently, her open and beautiful eyes centered on the man in front of her.

"Well, you see, Kyoko-chan...I like you."

"I like you too, Hikaru-nii-san! I really like all the Ishibashi-onii-sans!" Kyoko said eagerly.

Hikaru felt himself dying a little inside, but tried to rally again. "Ne, Kyoko-chan, what I meant was, I really like you, and am interested in dating you..."

Kyoko stiffened. Then she started muttering to herself. "One is bad enough, but now I have two supposed confessions to try to cope with, and that's just a little too much, how is one unlovable girl actually supposed to deal with all of this nonsense..."

"I-I'm sorry?" Hikaru stammered in confusion.

"Mogami-san, I'm here for our- Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had company." Hikaru saw Japan's Number One, _The Tsuruga Ren,_ enter, with a very gentlemanly smile on his face, looking like he had just walked off of a modelling shoot. He was dressed in a colored dress shirt, with the top two buttons undone, revealing a regular t-shirt underneath, and wearing black slacks. He also brought with him an intense cloud of cologne and pheremones, and had a bouquet of wildflowers in his hand.

"Oh, um, hi, Tsuruga-san," Kyoko said shyly, breaking out of her little trance. She blushed and looked aside as she took in the new arrival's appearance.

Hikaru was not oblivious to the situation.

"I'll just be leaving now, Kyoko-chan, and I'll see you later. Have a good time with Tsuruga-san," Hikaru said, trying to mask his pain behind a cheerful smile. He turned and left before anyone else could say anything, and let out his frustrations in a deep breath as he walked down the hallway.

- I read the Legends fic, which I liked very much, and saw the challenge at the top, and was just so inspired to try it! The date will be in chapter 2, which is already in progress and outlined! Here are the rules I saw and went from.

First Date Challenge Rules: Write a fic about Kyoko's first real date with Ren

Rule #1: Cannot be a "fake" date or a LoveMe assignment

Rule #2: Feelings must be established from at least one side, i.e. at least one of them has to have confessed to the other (doesn't need to have happened in the fic, but bonus points if you include it!)

Rule #3: There must be some sort of kissing (doesn't matter when)

Rule #4: You must incorporate a love rival into the story (we need drama/conflict! use any existing character you like, no matter how minor)

Rule #5: Must end with Kyoko/Ren!

- I know Hikaru's a little silly, but he was trying everything he could to keep up confidence so that he could finally confess to Kyoko! Plus I like a little humor, and think that Hikaru's a nice guy and can take it.


	2. Chapter 2

First Impressions: Chapter 2

AN – I hate 's formatting. I also do not own Skip Beat!

Ren and Kyoko stood in the Love-Me office awkwardly after Hikaru's departure. He cleared his throat. "Mogami-san, would you like a few minutes to get ready? Or are you so attatched to your uniform that you were planning on wearing it out on our date?" he teased, attempting to break the ice.

Kyoko jumped in embarassment. "Oh, no, Tsuruga-san, I'm just a little behind, is all, since I wasn't expecting to have a visitor..." she trailed off weakly and blushed.

Ren put on a calm and confident facade. "I'll just wait outside for you while you get ready." He turned and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.

He leaned up against the wall and tried to gather his thoughts and feelings. He had actually heard most of the conversation between Kyoko and her male visitor, and had decided to step in and interrupt to throw Kyoko off from the other man's confession. He felt a little bit like a jerk for doing so, but he really needed to make the most of this day. And besides, he was pretty sure he loved Kyoko far more than anyone else could anyway. He made a face at himself when he realized how sappy that sounded, even if it was true. He told himself that if Kyoko did not fall for him, she could very well fall for any of the other men pursuing her at some point, and so he really needed to put forth his best effort today, and not worry about potential other suitors. He made another face at how pathetic he seemed, then summoned up his courage and waited patiently for Kyoko to come out.

He wasn't waiting long, and had his breath taken away by Kyoko's simple beauty. She had on a light v-neck sweater with slightly shortened sleeves, some well-fitting black capris, and minimal make-up. "You look beautiful," he said, at almost a whisper.

Kyoko blushed and squirmed a little at the compliment. After an uncomfortable moment, she called attention to the flowers in his hand to try to direct it away from her.

Ren jumped a little and mentally kicked himself for staring. "Ah, yes, these are for you." He tried to hand Kyoko a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers, but she tried to stop him.

"Tsuruga-san, you really don't need-"

"Kyoko," he said firmly. "Since you did agree to this special date, I'd like to lay down some rules." Kyoko looked a little puzzled but nodded. "You may call me whatever you are most comfortable with, whether it be Tsuruga-san or Ren, but I would like to call you Kyoko." She blushed and nodded again. "I also would like to be able to give you these flowers without having to fight you about it. They didn't cost me anything, and were no trouble to get. They were near the set this morning where I was working, and I thought you might like to have some. I made sure to ask, and they said I could pick as many as I liked." He held them forward for her again.

"...They're very beautiful, Tsuruga-san," she said, slowly taking them this time, and looking at him with mysterious eyes. Ren smiled warmly, glad to have her take them after only a slight skirmish.

"Now, as for what we will be doing on our date..." He paused and pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket. "I made a list of things that I thought you would like to do that you can pick from. All of the things on the list are things that I will be more than happy to do with you, so you don't need to worry about me as you pick. I want to do what you would like to do tonight." He hesitated for a moment, then went ahead and said it anyway. "I love you for who you are, not for the things you could do for me, and I'd like to do things for _you_ tonight." Kyoko turned crimson at Ren's frank statement of his affections, and shuffled her feet awkwardly. Ren hurried on, to ease the moment.

"As I said, I'd be happy to do anything on the list." He handed it to her and let her look it over for a moment. He saw her lift her eyebrows in surprise, and began to ramble. "I'd really like to spoil you if you'd let me, so I put taking you shopping on there, and I'd also love to take you out to a really great restaurant with the best chefs working there, but I thought you might not be comfortable with those ideas because you don't seem to like me spending money on you, so I put things like a nice picnic in a park where we could just relax and be away from the constant business of the city, or riding on a bike trail, if you want to do something more physical. I also thought you might like to try out some batting cages just for fun, I think you would have a good time there." He paused. "I wanted to take you to a children's play, but they don't have any shows until two weeks from now. They will be performing a musical version of Sleeping Beauty, and I'd really like to take you to see it, but we can leave that decision until after we see if this date goes well enough first."

"...You're really putting a lot of effort into this," Kyoko marveled.

"You're very important to me," Ren replied sincerely. She looked at him with wide eyes. He tried to distract her again. "Why don't you go ahead and pick what you would like to do tonight." He was trying very hard to show her his feelings, but not overwhelm her or scare her away. Kyoko looked at the list and nodded.

"There are so many fun-sounding things on here, I can't quite decide yet!" Ren was pleased, because he had put quite a bit of effort into the list.

"You don't have to decide just yet, you can think about it on our way to my car. You can also bring the flowers along if you want, or leave them here in the office. I'm not sure how well they'd last in the car." Kyoko agreed and went to put the flowers inside the office. Ren silently said a prayer of thanks that the date was going so well so far. Kyoko returned and they headed down the hallways of LME towards the garage.

They walked along in silence as Kyoko pondered the list and Ren simply enjoyed being with her. At one point he did feel a strange sensation of menacing eyes on him, and looked around to find Kyoko's best friend glaring at him while mopping up the floor some distance away. She mopped more vigorously and with more malice when Ren made eye contact with her. He tried to smile at her, but found it rather difficult.

"Tsuruga-san, is something- MOKO-SAN!" Kyoko bolted toward her friend, and tried to grab her in an enthusiastic embrace. Kanae stopped her by holding her arm out, and they held a quick whispered conversation. Ren watched helplessly as Kanae seemed to lecture Kyoko, while Kyoko stood there nodding sometimes and shaking her head at others. Kanae shoved Kyoko back towards Ren and continued to glare at him.

"Is everything alright, Kyoko?" Ren asked, trying to hide his discomfort.

"Oh, yes, Tsuruga-san, Moko-san was just telling me to be careful of you on our date, though I don't know why she's worried so much, she made it sound like you..." Kyoko trailed off and her face turned beet-red. Ren wondered which time he nearly assaulted her she was thinking of and grew even more uncomfortable.

"Have fun on your date," he heard in a mocking tone. He looked back towards where Kanae had been, and saw her moodily kicking her rolling bucket of water along the hallway.

Ren sighed. He was going to have to figure out how to get on better terms with his love's best friend some other time. "Let's just keep going toward the car, Kyoko, and think about what we are going to do some more."

"O-ok."

They proceeded on some distance further through the building, when they were suddenly assaulted by flashes of light and the sounds of a camera going off repeatedly.

"Congratulations, Kyoko and Ren!"

"You two are_ FINALLY _going out on your first date!"

When Ren's vision cleared, he saw his manager, with camera in hand, and the president of LME (dressed outrageously, of course) standing before them. He inwardly groaned.

"Wait, what? Finally?" Kyoko said, confusion evident in her voice. Lory and Yashiro exchanged sly looks.

"You mean, Ren didn't tell you yet how long he's been waiting to take you out on a date?"

"Or how he finally realized his love for you when he made his Katsuki?"

"Oh, that was definitely a priceless moment, seeing his face while he was watching her from my limo!"

"Looks like all his seemingly insignificant little progress has _actually_ paid off!"

Ren groaned out loud, and noticed Kyoko getting redder and redder as the two cupids prattled on about his sad and pathetic lovelife. He cleared his throat a little louder than he probably should have. "If you two will please excuse us, Kyoko-san and I have a date to go on, which I'm not sure how you found out about, but I am pretty sure that I don't want to know." He put his arm around her waist and tried to head towards the door.

"Oh-ho! He called her by her first name finally!" Yashiro eagerly nudged Lory.

"You're not allowed to take my precious Love-Me Member Number One out on a date without a talk from her "Daddy" first, young man!" Lory warned, stepping into their path with a mock-stern expression on his face. Ren rolled his eyes up towards heaven and braced himself for whatever torture came next. He knew he had signed up for a rough time when he decided to fully pursue Kyoko, but did all this really have to happen on their first date?

"No taking Kyoko anywhere dangerous, and take proper precautions to make sure you aren't mobbed by fans." Ren nodded at the sensible and unneccesary warning. "You also need to have her home by a reasonable time, or her landlords will worry." Ren nodded again and rolled his eyes at the obvious. Then he saw a michievous glint in his president's eyes. "Remember that Kyoko doesn't have much experience in the matters of love, so be gentle, and take things slow, and be sure to use-"

"B-BOSS!" Ren spluttered, going very pale.

"Boss?" Yashiro said, confused by the unusual term.

Lory laughed. "Oh, I know, _Ren, _I just like to tease, and remind you that you aren't the _emotionless perfect gentleman Tsuruga Ren _from time to time." Ren glanced over at Kyoko and was relieved to see confusion on her face, and hoped that she was still too naive to fully process the many things that Lory had been implying. "Now, I've got my biggest and brightest limo available if you two want to go out on your big date in style!" The president had far too many enthusiastic sparkles in his eyes for Ren's taste.

"I think we'll just take my car tonight, if that's ok with you, Kyoko?" _Besides, who knows what sorts of things he might have stocked that limo with anyway_. Ren saw Kyoko absently nod, and Lory pout.

"Bah, you two are no fun. Oh well, try and have fun anyway, and I'll expect a full report tomorrow morning! Oh, and don't worry, I'll be sending these photos to a certain idiot parent for keepsakes!" Lory cackled gleefully and whisked Yashiro away, who called out a happy "Have a great date with Ren, Kyoko-chan!" as they left.

Ren let out an exasperated and slightly defeated sigh. His father would just_ love _having those pictures, and would most likely frame them and hang them all over his house, raving incessantly about them to anyone and everyone who even so much as glanced at them. He would have to deal with that another time, though, and he groaned as he realized the list of things he would have to deal with later because of this date was growing longer and longer.

He turned to Kyoko and watched her go from furrowed thinking to shock. "Did the president just-" She froze and became a glowing embarrassed red on all visible skin.

Ren kicked himself and promised to throttle Lory later. "Kyoko..." he started awkwardly. "Please try to ignore what the president said, and don't worry, I'm not going to..." How the heck was he supposed to have this awkward conversation on the first date, when he still didn't even know how she felt about him? "...attack you or try to push you into doing anything you certainly don't want to do." Kyoko frowned. "N-not that I don't find you appealing, in fact I find you very-" Kyoko's eyes widened and she started blushing again. "You know what, I'm just going to stop there,"_ before I get myself in any more trouble. _Ren took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. "Kyoko, are you still ready for our date tonight?"

She looked down and nodded. "Y-yes."

"Good." Ren relaxed and tried to smile. "Let's head on out to the car, and you can decide what you would like to do if you haven't already." He put his hand on her waist and guided her to the car, praying very sincerely that they wouldn't have anymore interruptions.

AN - Here's the list Ren wrote up for their date, his own private copy of course, not the copy he handed Kyoko. (Darn formatting took out the strike-throughs in the movie idea, going to a children's play, and the double strike-through in quiet night at home.)

go to a really nice shopping area and buy her things (if she'll let me)

dinner at a really nice 5 star restaurant (my treat of course)

picnic in a park (we could pick up some food on the way there to eat)

bike trail (nice quiet ride with just the two of us, buy some snacks to take with us)

batting cages (I could teach her how to swing a bat)

quick trip to the beach, if it's not too crowded, is it even open? YES

go out to a movie sucky first date idea

going to a children's play will have to wait for two weeks

go out for ice cream (probably after a previous activity)

quiet night at home **TOO DANGEROUS!**

AN – I really wanted to keep it mostly from Ren's perspective, because I'm not all that sure on how Kyoko would think while everything was going on, and ren certainly wouldn't have a clue, but MAN was it hard!


End file.
